Even Failures Are Perfect
by Hannah Faror
Summary: While reflecting on his time as a heartless, Sora meets a strange shadow, who bears the ability to speak. Who is this person? What is a "Pure heart"? And how doest it all link to him? T for swears and violence. After KH1. Slight Sora x OC


**(I love to use my OCs. I don't know why. I guess I just can't get over using the same characters. I mean, if you look at all my stories ((save the other KH ones)) there is some kind of OC, yeah? Oh well. I'm doomed for life it seems. ^.^)**

**[Ps: This is after KH 1 but before COM and KH 2. So they are in their first outfits. Gomen ne, but I never played the others.]**

_It happened so quickly that day, I barely know where to begin. All I know is that one minute I was a human girl with a mother, and the next I lost her and became a shadow with a soul still clinging to it._

**--- ****Chapter One**** ---**

"Hayah! Take that!" Sora said, jumping away from the heartless he'd just finished off. "And that's the last of 'em!"

"Gwarsh, are ya sure, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Yep!" he said grinning.

Donald sighed. "This is so tiring, playing babysitter for Cid's store," he grumbled.

"Hey, be nice Donald! He's giving us new weapons, so lighten up!" Sora said laughing.

"Yeah, Donald. We gotta get new stuff if we ever wanna get the King and Riku back," Goofy added.

"Yeah…" Sora said then began to daze off.

"Soooraaaa…" Donald called

"Huh? What?" Sora said, barely getting back to reality.

"You did it again," he said.

"Did what?"

Donald sighed again. "Never mind. You just spaced out again. Like you've been doing so much lately."

"I can't help it. I've been thinking about how I was turned into a heartless once… It kinda makes me feel for the little shadow guys. Plus they're so cute!" he said grinning broadly.

Once again, Donald sighed.

Cid finally arrived back at the store an hour later. "Thanks for watchin' the shop, kid," he said to Sora.

"No problem, Cid!" Sora said. "Can we have the weapons now?"

"Sure I guess," he said, handing Sora a new upgrade for his keyblade.

"You guess?!" Donald said angrily but gladly accepted his new wand.

"Garsh, thanks Cid!" Goofy said as he received a new shield.

"Ain't no skin off my back," he said. "Now git out! I don't want people thinking I'm giving away free stuff!"

The three found themselves outside in a minute. "Stupid Cid! He's so ungrateful!" Donald yelled.

"Calm down," Sora said. "He paid us. I can understand him. Well, what now?"

"I wanna practice my fighting more! I need to get used to this new staff," Donald said.

"Sounds like a good idea to me, hyuck!" Goofy agreed.

"Ah, you guys go on without me. I'm feeling tired," Sora mumbled.

"You sure? I guess you just haven't been feeling your best today, huh?" Donald asked.

"Yeah," Sora said.

"Well, if you see us and feel like joining, then come on in," Goofy said reassuringly.

"Yeah."

Donald and Goofy left to practice with their new items. Alone, Sora began to walk around Traverse Town. He walked wherever his feet took him, only paying attention to his thoughts. He felt like something was wrong. Sora's mind kept turning back to the heartless he destroyed. He remembered what it was like as a heartless. He had felt lost, and unsure of himself. Was that how they all felt?

Sora found himself walking alone in a dark alley. He slumped against a wall, wondering why these thoughts were just coming back to him now. He remembered when Riku was a heartless. Well, more or less a heartless. Pretty much the same, no? Did Riku have feelings as a darkness engrossed human?

_Hah, pretty deep for you, Sora_, he scoffed at himself. But the thoughts didn't leave. He sighed. "Where am I anyway?" he wondered aloud. Sora then realized he'd gotten himself lost. "Pathetic," he hissed, again at himself. This was a part of traverse town he wasn't used to. He walked out of the alley to look out around him. He didn't recognize it at all. "Eh he he…"

Suddenly Sora heard a noise behind him. He turned quickly and the keyblade appeared in his hand. The noise suddenly stopped and he looked around with a fierce expression on his face. Nothing changed. Sora advanced a bit on the small alley. "Hey, come out!" he said seeing nothing appear. "I know you're there!" Still nothing moved. He grimaced. "Then I'll have to find you!" He began to tear through the trash bags and miscellaneous items in the alley.

Finally after lifting the last few bags he found a small shadow heartless hiding behind the bags. The small creature quivered with... was that fear? Sora shook his head. No, it couldn't be. It didn't attack him though. Instead, it jumped up to the rafter of the house lining the alley. It squeaked nervously. Sora cocked his head in curiosity. It seemed to plead for him to spare it. _That's because I am._ "Huh." He sat again and stared at the small thing. "I think you just talked to me. No, it was just my imagination, wasn't it?"

_The imagination sometimes tells the truth, you know._

Now he jumped. "What the?!"

It sighed. _Are all you humans this stupid? Then again, you're the first I've talked to in a while. _

"H-hey, that's not the way to talk to someone who can kill you in a second!" Sora said.

_Oh, sorry. Is this better, Oh pweshe mishter scawy man, pweshe don't hurt widdle ol' me! _it said and seemed to glare at Sora through its luminous eyes.

"But you were scared a second ago," he said nervously.

_Ha! You _are_ stupid! Girls aren't afraid of anything, _it, though apparently a she, said.

"I saw fear in your eyes though…"

_Alright, but now I'm on a roof where you can't reach me. _

"Let's see about that!" Sora said. Now he was mad. He did a dash for the wall and grabbed the slot between bricks, then found himself barely off the ground. He couldn't seem to climb up either.

_Yes, now what were you saying?_ she asked as she rolled her eyes it seemed.

"Ugh. Women are a pain," he said as he dropped to the ground.

_Serves you right. And Boys are much worse, _the creature scoffed.

Sora sighed. "Well what do you want?"

_An interesting conversation. Haven't had one in a while, _she said.

"Why not?" he asked.

_Because not everyone has a pure heart._

The words echoed in Sora's head a while. "Pure… heart?" he asked.

She sighed again. _Ya know, a pure heart? I can only talk to those who have a pure heart. _

"Why?" Sora asked, sounding like a kid.

_Because! It's hard to explain! Most humans have a torn heart. Most_ people _actually, no matter what race. Those are the people vulnerable to heartless attacks. And when one of us pure heart people- oops! I think I've been blathering on too much, _she said.

"Wait, finish that! You have a pure heart?" Sora asked.

_I did not say that, _the shadow said nervously.

"But you said 'one of _us_ pure heart people. That means you must have a pure heart! But that doesn't make sense then. You're a heartless. You can't have a heart," Sora said.

The shadow was quiet a while. _Damn. _Sora was taken aback. He didn't expect this kind of language. She had been looking at the ground, but now looked up at him. _You want answers? Catch me if you can!_

Before Sora knew what was going on, the shadow had took off running, leaving him behind. Sora jumped up. "Hey wait!" he yelled. Sora ran to catch up to her. The shadow was quick on her feet, faster than Sora. If he were going to catch up to her he would need help.

They had been in a middle section of traverse town. Near the bell and the factory, along with the large open space where the keyhole was located. The shadow ran as far as she could past this area, and into the third area where Sora met Donald and Goofy. "H-hey slow down!" he called after her, losing breath.

Sora stopped, tired. "Stupid heartless!" he shouted. "Who does she think she is!?" He fell over on the ground.

_Guess I win. See ya later, kid, _the heartless called. _Yeow!_ Something suddenly struck her. _W-what was that?_

"Psyche!" he said, grinning. Sora held up his keyblade to show that an electric current had come out of it.

_Crap. Damn you!_ she said. Another bolt headed toward her. She barely dodged but was hit by another. _Damn you, quit it!_

"No! Tell me what I want to know!" Sora said.

_Like I'd tell you! It doesn't matter anyway! _she screamed, suddenly showing a new side of her. _Why do you want to know?!_

"It's a new concept to me! I'm curious!" Sora said.

_Well don't look into it much! _the shadow shouted. _Kyaaah! _She squealed as she was picked up by a newcomer.

"Sora, I can't believe you can't take care of a simple heartless like this," Leon said.

"Wait, don't kill it!" Sora said, standing.

"What?" Leon asked, confused.

"It talked to me!" he said, sounding crazy.

"You dummy. Heartless can't talk," Leon scoffed.

"But it did!"

_Give it up kid. He's got a torn heart, _the heartless said. _He can't hear me._

"Leon doesn't…" Sora was shocked. He would have thought that Leon would have a pure heart.

_All who look, don't give me pity. This is a fitting ending for fitting me. This is my time, eh kid? Nice knowin' ya Sora, _she said.

"What?!" Sora was extremely furious and confused now. "Leon don't kill it. It's speaking to me."

"So you expect me to belive that this heartless isn't going to rip out my heart," Leon said.

"Yes! It's a big coward. It ran from me as far as here," he said.

"You're crazy… but I'll believe you for now," the elder said as he tossed the black creature to Sora.

_Ow! Gentle!_ she yelled, annoyed.

"Hey, I saved you, didn't I?" Sora growled at her. Leon looked at them strangelhy but left. Once he was out of earshot, Sora demanded his information.

_Alright. Here's the scoop buddy. Pure heart people have souls that are able to cling to their bodies after they turn into heartless. They don't die. I know this because I've found that out from other heartless. Kay? Happy now? _she explained.

"Good enough I suppose," Sora grumbled. _That must be why I didn't turn into a heartless that time…_

_You were a heartless once? That's amazing that you were able to turn back. How'd you do it? _she asked.

"How did you…"

_Mind reading is common among girls. And heartless._

"Well I don't really know… I just kinda did I guess…"

_Psh. Boys are so stupid,_ the heartless said. She looked up and down Sora strangely. He didn't like it.

"What do you want?" Sora asked her.

_Just trying to figure out why the keyblade would choose a dopey kid like you over m- …someone else,_ she said.

"Well I do have that pure heart you were talking about," he said.

_And? I assure you, you weren't the only pure-heart person avalible at the time. There are only about five at a time. In every world._

"Oh…" And here he'd thought he was special for a minute. Sora wasn't sure of what to make of the new girl. He thought hard. She was definetly holding things back from him. He thought for a while. Finally he spoke. "Alright, I trust you I gue- HEY! BRING THAT BACK HERE!" he yelled furiously.

While Sora'd been thinking, the heartless had snatched his keyblade and thrown it to the side so she could have enough time to escape. She laughed a laugh of pure pride. _Catch ya later, kid! Have fun playing fetch. _And she disappeared like that. _Oh and by the way. If I ever find you again, I want a good explanation of how you turned human. If not… _and then she appeared upside down in front of him, _I'll have to kill you. You know my secret now right? A secret for a secret. Bye!_ and she disappeared again.

"Come back here! Aw man. I was close. And I don't even know her name… Oh well," he mumbled. He still felt her watching him and it was uncomfortable. As soon as the uncomfortable-ness left, he got up and grabbed his keyblade. Sora sighed. "Man…" He glumly walked back to the entrance to Traverse Town.

Donald and Goofy were already asleep. Sora smiled when he saw them. _They must have done a lot…_ he thought to himself. Sora mingled to the back of the room they were staying in. It was nice to have a place to sleep for once. He lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling a while. So many thoughts filtered through his head. He didn't feel he'd ever have any answer. Sora held up a hand. The answers were like the air he tried to catch. There, but not there. He sighed and turned before slowly falling asleep.

_You really musn't take chances like that again, _the elder heartless said. He was a well practiced darkside. He hadn't lost a battle ever.

_I know. But maybe I can turn back someday, _the shadow said. _And maybe… maybe I can bring Mom back!_

The Darkside sighed. _No. I'm sorry. It doesn't work that way. You had a pure heart. But your mother did not._

_Your lying!_ she cried. _Mom _will_ come back! Right?_

_It can't work that way. I'm so sorry, _he hated her ignorance.

_Mom… _the heartless was in a large room in the depths of Hollow Bastion. The walls were all dark, save one stained glass window of the heartless symbol. The ground was an clear blue stone that made one think they would fall. The heartless moved over to a case of glass that held an unconscious soldier heartless in it. _She's dead isn't she? I suppose there isn't a way to bring back the dead anyway. _The small heartless would have cried. But she lacked the ability. _I can't belive it. This sucks! _The darkside sighed and she turned to him. _Riku? _she asked. _Can you tell me about Sora again?_

_Of course I can._


End file.
